Melbourne brand’s ‘race against the clock’ to bring Kylie’s AFL Grand Final boots to life

She’s a world-famous A-list star, but Kylie Minogue has never forgotten her Melbourne roots – and one (fabulous) detail in her outfit for the AFL Grand Final proves it.

The singer hit the MCG stage in three pairs of custom boots from Bared, the shoe brand that’s earned a cult following around the country since launching in the Victorian capital 18 years ago.

Minogue’s gold, silver and black heeled boots were the result of what founder Anna Baird describes as a “race against the clock” behind the scenes.

“We worked faster than I think we ever have with our factory, and ended up making 12 boots in total,” the Melbourne podiatrist-turned-entrepreneur tells nine.com.au.

“The timing was so tight that I actually brought them back to Melbourne with me on the plane. There was no way I was letting those boots out of my sight.”

Baird and her team reached out to Minogue’s stylist after seeing the news she was playing the AFL Grand Final.

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“I mean, Kylie, at the MCG, in Melbourne, wearing Bared? We had to try,” she says.

The brand’s US PR agency made the introduction, and the rest is history. As you might imagine, it was a big piece of news to keep under wraps.

“We had to keep reminding everyone in the team that it was a very big secret. There was a lot of excitement in the office,” Baird says.

The Padam Padam singer’s team had a clear vision of the boots they wanted, so the Bared team began looking into how they could reinterpret two of their existing styles to match the brief.

Bared began in Melbourne in 2008, and has expanded with stores in Brisbane, the Gold Coast and Sydney.

Part of what makes the brand so popular is the comfort of its shoes – something Minogue likely appreciated as she sashayed across the stage at the MCG.

Comfort has been top priority for Baird, who parlayed her expertise as a podiatrist into design.

“From day one the goal has been to make shoes that look amazing without asking you to sacrifice how your feet feel,” she says.

“There’s a lot happening inside a Bared shoe that you don’t necessarily see. We build biomechanical support and cushioning into our footbeds, then spend a huge amount of time working on fit.

“When you’re performing on stage and moving for hours, that support really matters. You should be able to wear an incredible pair of boots and actually enjoy wearing them.”

Baird didn’t have the chance to meet Minogue during the process – “I wish I could say I did. That would have been pretty incredible” – or speak to her directly, but said her team loved the boots.

“Seeing them actually make it onto the stage was obviously the ultimate feedback for us,” she says.

The singer was also spotted wearing the brand’s Pandion boot during rehearsals and at her press conference.

As a fellow Melbourne local, Baird says it was “incredibly special” and “quite surreal” to see one of the city’s most famous exports wearing her designs for a quintessentially Melbourne event.

“I’m still having those little moments where I think, ‘Did that actually just happen?’”

As for her favourite Kylie song, Baird has a definitive answer: “I grew up in the ’80s to Locomotion!“